VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis in his Christmas message on Saturday (Dec 25) decried increasing polarisation in personal and international relationships, saying that only dialogue can resolve conflicts ranging from family feuds to threats of war.
In his Urbi et Orbi (“to the city and the world”) message, he called on individuals and world leaders to talk to each other rather than dig in their heels, a distancing he said has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our capacity for social relationships is sorely tried; there is a growing tendency to withdraw, to do it all by ourselves, to stop making an effort to encounter others and do things together,” he said from the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on a wet and windy Christmas Day in Rome.
“On the international level too, there is the risk of avoiding dialogue, the risk that this complex crisis will lead to taking shortcuts rather than setting out on the longer paths of dialogue. Yet, only those paths can lead to the resolution of conflicts and to lasting benefits for all,” he said.
Francis, who turned 85 last week, listed conflicts, tensions or crises in Syria, Yemen, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Sudan, South Sudan and elsewhere.
“We continue to witness a great number of conflicts, crises and disagreements,” he said, speaking from the same balcony where he first appeared to the world as pope after his election on Mar 13, 2013.
“These never seem to end; by now we hardly even notice them. We have become so used to them that immense tragedies are now being passed over in silence; we risk not hearing the cry of pain and distress of so many of our brothers and sisters,” he said, speaking to an unusually small crowd reduced by COVID-19 restrictions and the weather to only several hundred.
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